The Estilette family to open The LLK Foundation in honor of their son Karson 

His legacy shines on, as the Estilette family begin their first steps to establish a non-profit organization in honor of their son called the Love Like Karson (LLK) Foundation. 

Karson Estilette, son of Cody and Tina Estilette, was a freshman mechanical engineering major, who began his studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Fall 2024. On Sept. 19, as he headed home for an in-between-class break, he was involved in a motor vehicle accident, which ultimately caused his passing on Sept. 20, 2024. 

The LLK Foundation “is being created to finish the work he truly felt he was on earth for,” a statement from the family said. 

The organization is in its beginning stages; an Articles of Incorporation has been completed and “now we’re working on the whole tax exempt stuff for the non-profit to be able to open an account, […] where we can start raising money,” said Cody Estilette.  

LLK Foundation, at this time, has two main goals: support the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) and potentially look at supporting prospective engineering students at the University through scholarships. 

Karson was an organ donor, and he was able to save four lives with his heart, liver and kidneys last year. “We do have one of the recipients reached out to us in a letter […], just the communication and hoping to meet them one day, is amazing. We’re hoping the rest would reach out eventually, too,” Cody Estilette said.

“And the gratefulness that they seem to show up to this point, […] they truly want to know everything about Karson,” Raynette Guidry said, Karson’s aunt. “Since then, we’ve had conversations with both our kids, and our kids have both told us, ‘if I’m ever in that kind of situation, I want you to donate my organs as well.’ It’s opened a lot of our eyes to different things.”

In supporting LOPA, the LLK Foundation specifically hopes to raise money to pay bills LOPA acquires during the organ donation process. 

Cody Estilette said, “At the time of his passing, […] everything after that, LOPA is responsible for the bill. I think it was almost a day and a half that they had to keep him on the vent and keeping all the organs working, medication and everything around the clock until he makes it to Convington and actually do the harvesting of the organs. So, LOPA is faced with a lot of bills, […] to procure these organs. We’d like to help give back to that.”

As for the scholarships, at this time, the organization aims to support students entering UL Lafayette’s College of Engineering. Some ideas currently in work involve giving an LLK scholarship to incoming freshmen to the University who had a high school education from David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy and continue those ambitions in the engineering program. 

Some events the organization is brainstorming to open with include having “a black pot cook-off, […] adding cornhole tournaments, as well as having a live band performing, […] having a 5k run, […] jeep rides, motorcycle poker runs.”  These are ideas that are still in the works as the organization approaches its establishment. 

 The LLK Foundation is expected to start in full swing in spring 2026. However, until then, there will be a few ways people can help out these causes. The organization recently opened “a GoFundMe account to see if we can get donations, and then it’s going to be merchandise. We’re going to try to start branding the LLK shirts, koozies, hats, different items to sell to make money, […] get us moving in the right direction.”

All events and fundraisers will be announced on the organization’s Facebook page, The LLK Foundation. 

“So we are definitely in the very, very early stages of getting it. But it’s getting closer every day,” Cody Estilette. 

The Estilette family took the time to share their most fond moments with Karson as well.

Kevin Guidry, Karson’s godfather, shared that one of his favorite memories of Karson was “going to the beach with him. We did that pretty often.”

“The time that y’all set up the slip-n-slide off the mountain in Tennessee, and he had so much fun,” said Raynette Guidry, “I think I just loved his personality, too. He was really funny, just always very loving, always wanting to hug someone and make somebody laugh.”

“And he wouldn’t cut his hair, and it’d look so bad,” Candace Oswald, Karson’s cousin, shared.

“Didn’t like you to be sad. Always do everything to try to make you laugh. If nothing else, you always got a really good, great big hug. He was a hugger,” Nickole Estilette, Karson’s aunt, said.

“It was the stories we found out later, how he would sit with certain people at lunch, and he always tried helping everybody else’s problems and try to solve the world’s problems and figure out how he can make it better.[…] That was his big thing, is to try to make life easier for everybody else,” Cody Estilette shared.

“The takeaway is just that we’re doing this in honor of him because this is exactly what he would’ve done. If he could’ve started his own non-profit to help people out, that’s exactly what he would have done. So we’re just trying to follow in his footsteps and give back to people in need.” Students and faculty can help by donating just $1 to Support the LLK Foundation: Honor Karson’s Legacy GoFundMe account. Follow The LLK Foundation on Facebook to stay updated about the organization’s happenings, events and ways in which to contribute to help keep alive Karson Estilette’s loving, memorable bequest.